How Online Bingo Has Revamped a British Favourite
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Bingo feels as British as a Sunday roast, tea on the lawn and queuing up. It’s been a part of our national culture for many years now. In the post-war years, bingo became a great way of keeping communities together, with the women who had been left at home often meeting at a village hall for a game of bingo one night per week. Bingo halls across the UK we revamped and turned into quite fantastic buildings.
Interest in the game waned, and whilst there was still a passion for bingo, it began to get a reputation for being played by females of a certain age. You could still hear the callers shouting numbers up and down the seaside streets of Skegness and Blackpool, but it felt like it was dying.
That was swiftly remedied before the internet by the completion of new bingo halls operating under franchise names, with games that offer prizes to be shared across the country and cutting-edge technology to make a night out with the girls dabbing cards fashionable again. That renaissance has continued with online bingo; PR Newswire suggests bingo has thrived recently, with online bingo growing faster than ever before. That’s partly down to the recent pandemic and the provider’s ability to attract and retain customers.
Online bingo generates more than £270m annually, but how is it ensuring it remains fashionable, relevant and attractive to players? Here are three key weapons in its arsenal.
Branded Games
The online casino industry relies on branded games to draw in customers, and online bingo does the same. An example of this is seen in the Coronation Street game featured by Foxy Bingo. It takes a traditional bingo game, familiar to everyone, and adds the Coronation Street twist. It plays like a classic 90-ball game, but with the addition of the Golden Cobbles Jackpot, a reference to the paving on Coronation Street, one of the UK’s most beloved soap locations. This isn’t the only branded game available; plenty of providers offer different games, from US sitcom Friends to the game show Deal or No Deal, which seek to add a twist to bingo or rely on your familiarity with their subject matter.
Big Prizes
One strategy that helped drag bingo into the 21st century was the amalgamation of venues to offer one national jackpot. Traditionally, bingo lovers would be in their village hall with a jackpot as big as the number of seats allowed. By bringing multiple venues together, huge sums could be won, and online bingo providers use that to their advantage. Offering their games to people across the country attracts more players than a single venue. That means more paying customers and, therefore, a bigger pot to win at the end of the game.
Variety
If you’ve ever been to a bingo night, you’ll know some people take it very seriously, intent on winning their prizes. Others are there for a laugh, wishing to spend less and enjoy the game’s fun. Online bingo offers you the chance to do both and more. There are big money games, games with a much smaller stake and prize, and plenty of different variants. The US like 75-ball bingo, but the UK prefers 90-ball. If you’ve ever been to the seaside and played, you’re likely to have played 50-ball, while some super-quick games use just 30 balls. Whichever you prefer, online providers have you covered.
Conclusion
The use of bingo halls has declined twice, firstly in the nineties and then again around 2005, but the game is fighting on. Much of our life has been improved by online providers, from shopping to gaming, and bingo is right up there on the list. There’s something for everyone online, evidenced in the increasing reported revenue for the sector year after year.
If you enjoyed this article, then you’ll likely find others to keep you amused in the alternative sports section of our Verge Magazine website.
